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The Drowning Pool, first published in 1950, is the second Lew Archer novel. It opens in classic hard-boiled fashion, with a well-dressed woman hesitantly engaging Archer's services at his L.A. office. Soon he's digging up secrets in her oil-rich hometown, and the themes that preoccupied Macdonald throughout his career begin to emerge: tormented families, buried secrets that fester through multiple generations, environmental destruction, concealed paternity, and the brutal contrast between rich and poor. Macdonald's later novels--including The Galton Case (1959), The Chill (1964), and The Underground Man (1971)--showed increased maturity and a tone less tied to tradition, but The Drowning Pool returns to the virtues that are the hallmarks of Mcdonald's work: complex and compelling plotting, psychological depth, just enough mayhem, and highly economical prose that routinely rises to something near poetry.
From Library Journal
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ross MacDonald was a true artist.,
By
This review is from: The Drowning Pool (Paperback)
A Ross MacDonald is like an extremely well crafted 1950's black & white noir movie. Nothing comes through in it's true color, everything is projected in shades of gray, the action is stately yet never drags, and the characters are all vaguely threatening.All of MacDonald's novels exhibit certain basic themes--tormented families, buried secrets that fester through multiple generations, environmental destruction, and the brutal contrast between rich and poor. The key to MacDonald's long running success was Archers realism and authenticity, MacDonald's ability to craft complex yet understandable stories, his mastery of language, and his ability to generate a specific atmosphere of threatening suspense on a consistent basis. All of the above referenced themes are present in The Drowning Pool, which I think is MacDonald's best novel, though The Underground Man is right up there as well. MacDonald's novels aren't just mind candy-reading him is a literary experience. I believe that is why he was successful in a sort of restrained way. Escapists will not get into these books-they are too cerebral. If you want to your books affect you, MacDonald and Archer are your kind of guy's.
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best fifties LA noir,
By
This review is from: The Drowning Pool (Paperback)
I'm not a big fan of detective series because they tend to become robotic in plot and characterization, but the Ross MacDonald/Lew Archer series is an exception. Crisp language, tight plots, and geat dialog make for a gripping story.A sad sidenote. Don't rent/watch the insipid Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward movie 'loosely' based on the book. Instead of LA they set it in New Orleans and they basically rearranged all the characters into pale versions of their literary counterparts. Just thought I'd let you know.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The way America is.,
By "flava_flav_anilla" (in the CONCRETE basement) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Drowning Pool (Paperback)
Ross Macdonald describes America the way it really is, mindblowing, desperate, full of paranoia!! His descriptions of faded starlets and worn-out harlots wandering around Hollywood, talking tough and acting mean, he describes the slums, the shady characters out to make a buck, the cops with trigger fingers and intolerant faces, it is all there. I have reccomended his books to friends in Europe, they don't seem to see it the same way I do. I bet it's still a damn good read for most people.
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